Eddie Campbell announced on his blog that his early graphic novel Dapper John in the Days of the Ace Rock ‘n’ Roll Club is available as a standalone iPad app. The comics, a series of interlocking seven-page stories, were drawn in 1978-79. Campbell self-published them in the 1980s, and Fantagraphics did a collected edition in 1993. The app, which was produced by a Tokyo company called Panel Nine, includes not just the original run of comics but also the original small press covers, Alan Moore’s review of the comic (which started the ball rolling), and sundry other extras, some of which have not been seen in years. So it’s sort of a digital collector’s edition.

Batton Lash’s Supernatural Law is another vintage comic (well, from the 1990s) that is getting a new life in digital form. In this case, the comic is not its own app but is available via the Comics + and Graphicly platforms at a reasonable digital price: Wolff & Byrd #1 is free, and subsequent issues are 99 cents.

Finally, the Japanese publisher Ohzora, the parent company of the now-defunct U.S. publisher Aurora, has not given up on the English-language market, apparently: Its English site makes clear that it has lots of manga available for licensing, and in a few cases, it’s skipping the middleman and going straight to digital. And that means: Project X Cup Noodle, possibly the greatest manga ever published in English, is now available as an iPad app. This was one of the great oddball manga of the U.S. manga boom: The story of the development of instant noodles in a cup, presented as a series of heroic struggles. It was originally licensed by Digital Manga but published only in print; the license must have lapsed, because Ohzora’s app uses Digital’s cover dress, now strangely appropriate, for the iPad app.

Brain Boy Archives

On general principle, I love any project with an alliterative name like Brain Boy. And even though JK Parkin just interviewed Dark Horse Assistant Editor Jim Gibbons, when I found out he had the scoop on the Brain Boy Archives that Dark Horse is set to release this Wednesday, November 16, I pestered Gibbons for a brief email interview. The 1962/1963 six-issue series serves as the only comic written by prose novelist Herb Castle. And while Castle developed the origin with legendary artist Gil Kane, after that first appearance, the actual series was drawn by then-newcomer Frank Springer. Inspired by the Cold War landscape of the early 1960s , the short-lived series proved a great springboard for discussion with Gibbons.

Tim O’Shea: How did the idea first come about to develop a Brain Boy archive?

Jim Gibbons: This was all Dark Horse Comics’ head honcho Mike Richardson’s idea. That guy knows his old comics like nobody’s business and we—as a company—wouldn’t have as extensive or as impressive an archival collection series without the passion Big Mike brings to the table for a lot of these projects. As a relatively young guy, I’d never heard for Brain Boy—and may not have had I not been assigned to work on this project with editor extraordinaire Philip Simon—but man, I enjoyed every wacky turn of this short-lived comic series.

O’Shea: Were you able to shoot the pages from original art, or what did you have to work with? Was there a great deal of restoration work that needed to be done?

Gibbons: All pages were scanned in house from the original comics and restored to their former glory by our incredible digital art team! They work tirelessly on archival projects like this all the time and never get enough credit for their hard work. Next time you pick up a yellowed and tattered issue from the ’60s, try and imagine the amount of work that goes into making that looks like brand new and you’ll start to get an idea of the hard work our digital art team puts in.

O’Shea: Would you agree that Brain Boy is best considered within the context of its time? As is noted on the inside book flap, the book was released in 1962–at the same time of the first James Bond movie and one of the coldest moments in the Cold War–the Cuban Missile Crisis.

Gibbons: I’m one of those guys who always checks the publication date of every graphic novel he reads before flipping to page one. Part of fully understanding and enjoying a comic story for me is directly related to knowing when it was published and what was going on in the world/the world of comics at the time. If I’m reading X-Men, I like to know what story lines came before and after what I’m reading, what political issues may have influenced the story, etc. Plus, writing styles change so much over time and I find reading old comics much more enjoyable when I know what era to place them in.

With Brain Boy, knowing that these stories were coming out when the country was terrified of communism and nuclear war really enhances the reading experience. I think a 12-year-old kid could pick this book up and enjoy it, but I think if that same kid understood the political climate of the country when this book was written, they’d gain a greater appreciation for it. (Though, that might come later… When do kid’s study the Cold War in Social Studies class nowadays?) I think I stumbled onto the fact that this book was written shortly after the Cuban Missile Crisis when I was doing some research to help pull together an early draft of some back cover text for the collection. When I put those two pieces together, I smacked my forehead and thought, “Of course! How did I not realize that earlier?! This whole book makes so much more sense now!” Not only that, but the book is a pop culture time capsule of 1962-’63. It’s a fun comic regardless, but it’s a fascinating comic when you consider the history.

O’Shea: Were you aware of Herb Castle’s writing before embarking on this project?

Gibbons: Not at all, but I was bummed to find out he never wrote another comic book after Brain Boy. I don’t know if he just preferred prose writing or what, but I wish there was another comic out there like this from that era. Castle didn’t pull any punches with this book. I think it’s pretty bold comics writing for the era… but I’m 27, so what do I know?!

O’Shea: If response to these archives was strong enough, do you think Dark Horse would entertain the notion of a new Brain Boy miniseries? Batton Lash certainly makes a case for one in his intro.

Gibbons: Ha! I’d LOVE that! I actually put together—mentally—a whole modernized take on Brain Boy while working on the archive that I’d love to read. I think the character and premise have a lot of elements that could make for an excellent politically-savvy modern comic. I mean, what’s not to love about a telepathic James Bond character?

O’Shea: Were you surprised that Brain Boy is not already more recognized, given that it was Frank Springer’s first work in comics?

Gibbons: As I was going through the old Brain Boy comics, I just hoped that—when all was said and done—modern audiences would take a chance on an old comic with a quirky name and discover all the juicy espionage and goofy monster-of-the-week stories within it and be inclined to go on a Gil Kane or Frank Springer kick shortly thereafter. This sounds cheesy coming from a guy who’s obviously biased when it comes to Brain Boy, but I had no idea what to expect from this series and—in the process of reading it and working on the archive—this comic really charmed me. I’ve got a real soft spot for any and all things Brain Boy now… and if that leads me to go read a bunch of old Dazzler comics in the near future, I won’t complain!

O’Shea: Can you single out a favorite story or scene from the archives?

Gibbons: I know withholding spoilers from comic from the ’60s is a little silly, but there is a scene between Matt Price/Brain Boy and his arch nemesis Ricorta that is referenced a few times throughout the series… Oh man, the first time that scene played out, it blew my mind. If you read the book, you’ll know exactly what moment I’m talking about. It’s just this crazy, shocking, fantastic scene that goes down in this absolutely harsh, calculating, and totally rational way that you just never see happen in comics. Considering how off-the-wall “gritty” heroes like Batman were in the same era, seeing Brain Boy’s cold-blooded moments is kind of stunning.

Now let’s take a look at more stuff coming to the con, including Professor Zoom, Supernatural Law, Marvel Mini Muggs and more

Zoom

Flashpoint‘s big villain, Professor Zoom, has San Diego on his schedule. Graphitti Designs will sell the above SDCC-exclusive action figure at their booth during the show, with a limit of one figure per customer.

*****

The Life-Partner of Frankenstein: A Supernatural Law Book

Exhibit A Press is publishing its first-ever full-color book: The Life-Partner of Frankenstein: A Supernatural Law Book by Batton Lash (60 pages, $10.95).

The plot: A descendent of the original Victor von Frankenstein, Colin von Frankenstein has created his own monster in his home laboratory in upstate New York. When Henry (the monster) yearns for a mate, Dr. Frankenstein creates Freda. The couple immediately bond and want to make their relationship official. Imagine their shock and disappointment when the county clerk denies their application for a marriage license—and has Freda arrested for possible public health violations! Dr. Frankenstein calls in attorneys Alanna Wolff & Jeff Byrd, who must deal not only with the case before them but an agitated townspeople who don’t want such an “unnatural” couple in their community.

This story originally appeared online in the Supernatural Law webcomic (www.supernaturallaw.com); the book is a limited edition primarily for Comic-Con.

The Exhibit A booth at Comic-Con is 1909, and Batton will be signing at the booth all four days. More information: www.exhibitapress.com

*****

Hasbro assembles the Avengers at their booth; Mini Muggs of Hulk, Thor, Iron Man and Captain America, as well as a Mighty Mugg-sized Giant Man, will be available at the show for $35.

*****

Dark Horse will sell an exclusive Peter Parker/Spider-Man Syroco statue at the show for $50, with a limit of four per customer.

*****

I mentioned the Thor Minimates collection a couple of weeks ago; here’s a picture:

Thor Minimates

These will only be available at the Action Figure Xpress booth, along with a Mumm-Ra figure that comes with his dog, Ma-Mutt. I never knew he was a dog lover. But it makes sense if you think about it.

from Obama Nation

Comic creators James Hudnall and Batton Lash have come under fire for a recent comic strip posted on the conservative website BigGovernment.com.

The duo regularly contributes a comic strip called “Obama Nation” — a play off of “abomination”– to the site, part of Andrew Breitbart’s online network. The Feb. 12th strip featured President Barack Obama and Michelle Obama eating dinner, with the president eating very small portions and the first lady eating a plate filled with hamburgers as they discuss her now one-year-old anti-obesity campaign. You can see the full strip for yourself after the jump.

MSNBC commentator Lawrence O’Donnell called it “a racist obscenity” on his program yesterday, while Mediamatters.org said, “It’s been a long time since I’ve expected anything approaching comity from the conservative media, but this is the sort of stuff most of us left at the grade school playground.” And on Technorati, Bill Schmalfeldt wrote, “… Brietbart’s hack comic drawers don’t understand satire. Instead, they show the First Lady as fat and scarfing down cheeseburgers, which she doesn’t do, they show Obama’s ears as impossibly large, the cartoon isn’t funny in the first place, and there’s no grain of truth on which to hang the satire.”

Hudnall, a former writer of Alpha Flight and Strikeforce Morituri, as well as creator of the ESPers and Harsh Realm, responded to the criticism: “There is nothing racist about the cartoon. The artist (Batton Lash) merely drew the first couple in caricature, which is what political cartoonists do. All we’ve done was to take a mild poke at the hypocrisy of the first lady. The press has already detailed the kind of foods served at white house dinners. It’s rarely diet friendly. Such as the menu at their super bowl party.”

Lash, the creator of Supernatural Law, said: “What’s racist about it? Cartooning — specifically political cartooning– has always been about exaggeration, whether it was Nixon’s prominent jowls, Carter’s toothy smile, or Bush ll’s beady eyes. If our current president is exempt because of the color of his skin, I think that would be racist. By the way, I didn’t depict the First Lady as fat — just a hearty eater!”

Bone: Tall Tales

Welcome once again to Food or Comics?, where every week we talk about what comics we’d buy based on certain spending limits — $15, $30 to spend and if we had extra money to spend on what we call the “Splurge” item.

So join Brigid Alverson, Chris Mautner and me as we run down what we’d buy this week, and check out Diamond’s release list to play along in our comments section.

Chris Mautner

If I had $15:

This one’s easy, as Wednesday sees the arrival of Jeff Smith’s latest Bone-related project, Tall Tales ($10.99 paperback, $22.99 hardcover — I’m obviously going for the paperback here). My daughter has become obsessed with Bone — to the point where she’s started making her own Bone-related comics (complete with theme music) — and is eager to pick up the latest volume, even if it does mostly collect material she and I have read before (namely the Stupid, Stupid Rat Tails series). I’ll probably pick it up on the sly this week and give it to her for for her birthday next month.

Next, it’s not comics, but I see that the Macmillan imprint Square Fish is re-releasing some of Tove Jansson’s Moomin children’s novels at $6.99 a pop. Since I’ve enjoyed D&Q’s reprints of the comic strip so thoroughly, I may pick up one of the novels as well.

If I had $30:

20th Century Boys

Hmmm. I’m way behind on Naoki Urasawa’s awesome 20th Century Boys series, but assuming I wasn’t, I’d definitely be picking up the new vol. 10 next ($12.99).

Or, if I was in a more sporting mood, I might hold off on that and get vol. 4 of Fumi Yoshinaga’s Ooku: The Inner Chambers. The first volume left me a little cold, but I’ll admit to being curious to see if Yoshinaga eventually delivers on her interesting swapped gender historical epic.

Splurge:

Craig Yoe’s IDW imprint has been hit or miss with me (great production values but I wish they put a bit more scholarship and analysis into their essays), but I’d definitely pick up Felix the Cat’s Greatest Comic Book Tails ($34.99), featuring a wealth of stories the classic Felix artist Otto Messmer did for Dell and Harvey. Messmer’s art is lovely, and the original strip was a hoot, so I’m curious to see what he did with a longer format.

Brigid Alverson

If there’s a theme this week, it’s that it’s hot, and I’m cranky and only in the mood for fairly undemanding entertainment. So here goes:

If I had $15, I’d get…

The Archie and Friends Haunted House TPB ($9.95), which is written by Batton Lash and therefore guarantees a good time. A lot of people don’t realize that Archie graphic novels even exist, but they are actually very nicely produced and a good deal for the money.

That leaves me with five bucks. I haven’t been a big fan of Top Cow properties up to now, but Artifacts #1 ($3.99) looks like a good stepping-on point, so I’ll give it a try. It’s a big, complicated story about the 13 artifacts that control the universe, and how some shadowy entity is trying to bring them together to destroy everything. It sounds a bit grandiose, but what the hell, it’s summer reading. Then I can spend that last dollar on one of Dark Horse’s dollar comics, Sin City: The Hard Goodbye.

If I had $30…

I’d get all that and add in Natsume Ono’s Gente: The People of Ristorante Paradiso ($12.99). Ono tends to be stronger on art than on story, but that’s OK for summer reading, and his art is really lovely. That last two dollars can go for two more dollar comics, Dungeons & Dragons #0 and Locke & Key: Welcome to Lovecraft #1. I’m not a D&D fan, but the comic promises to introduce me to the universe, and Locke & Key just sounds kind of cool.

If I wanted to splurge…

Ooku

I’d buy more manga, as this is a good week for that. Like Chris, I’m behind on 20th Century Boys, but it’s an awesome series and I can’t pass up vol. 10. Fumi Yoshinaga’s Ooku: The Inner Chambers is a great piece of gender-bender historical fantasy, and I’m definitely up for vol. 4. And I really enjoyed the chapter of Gossip Girl I read in Yen Plus magazine, so I’ll grab the first volume of that as well. Don’t judge me! It’s hot as blazes here, and a bit of badass chick lit is just the thing to take my mind off the lack of air conditioning around here.

JK Parkin

Ah, Brigid, now I almost feel guilty that we’ve had such a mild August out here on the West Coast that we haven’t even had to turn on the air conditioning this month …

If I had $15 …

Northlanders #31 ($2.99)
Morning Glories #1 ($2.99)
Incredible Hulk #611 ($3.99)
Thanos Imperative #3 ($3.99)
Dungeons & Dragons #0 ($1)

Incredible Hulk #611

… for a well-oiled total of $14.96. Northlanders continues the “Metal” storyline that kicked off last issue, about a blacksmith and the girl he loves trying to escape from corrupt Christian missionaries. Morning Glories is a new title from Image about six brilliant students who transfer into a prep school with “sinister and deadly” secrets; you can check out a preview here. Hulk #611 finally pits Skaar against his dad, and the Thanos Imperative sees several cosmic heroes uniting against the Cancerverse invaders. Finally, I had a buck left over, and as former D&D aficionado, I figured the new series from IDW was worth checking out.

If I had $30 …

Jersey Gods Vol. 3: Thunder Road ($12.99). Not only because I really enjoyed the series and would like to see how it ends, but also because they have some of the best subtitles for their trade paperbacks. After “I’d Live and I’d Die For You,” I was wondering how they’d pay tribute to the true king of Jersey music.

That’s $12.99, so I have a little more than $2 left. So I’m going to cheat and also grab a copy of Justice League: Generation Lost. Or download it, actually, to my iPad, courtesy of Comixology.

Splurge

Chew Omnivore Edition Vol. 1 Hardcover ($34.99). Actually I already own all the issues collected in this, but I thought it was worth mentioning because it’s a really, really great series. If you haven’t checked it out, buy this, buy the trades or grab some of the singles … you’ll be happy you did.

The Gods Must Be Litigious

When the Medusa decides to write a book—watch out! The Gorgon of Greek mythology, whose glance can turn people to stone, has been creating controversy on Earth as a bestselling author. Her highly opinionated How to Talk to a Mortal (If You Must) has brought her speaking engagements, TV talk show appearances—and lots of enemies! One of her most outspoken critics is editorial cartoonist Red Thrall, who is unrelenting in his cartoon attacks. Will the Medusa reach her breaking point and turn him to stone? How long
will Zeus tolerate all this nonsense on Earth? Looks like Medusa’s going to need some lawyers! And those lawyers are of course Wolff & Byrd, Counselors of the Macabre.

The book sells for $8.95 and will be available at the Exhibit A Press booth, #1909. Cartoonist Batton Lash will be on hand to sign copies.

If you aren’t going to the con, the Supernatural Law webcomic continues at www.supernaturallaw.com.

The Scariest Kid on Earth

Batton Lash is posting the back-up story to Supernatural Law #39, which features a parody of Chris Ware’s Jimmy Corrigan, the Smartest Kid on Earth, on his website in full color. The story is about a werewolf appearing as an attraction in Quimby’s Carnavale & Sideshow.

The complete press release is available after the jump. You can start reading the story here. Watch for new pages every Monday and Thursday.

*****

Press release

“The Scariest Kid on Earth” the new Supernatural Law tale now in progress at www.supernaturallaw.com, bears a striking resemblance to Jimmy Corrigan, Chris Ware’s Smartest Kid on Earth. Although this parody originally appeared as a backup in the Supernatural Law #39 print comic, the online version is in full color for the first time. In the story, the scariest kid is a not-so-young werewolf appearing as an attraction in Quimby’s Carnavale & Sideshow. New episodes of the story go up every Monday and Thursday, and it will conclude January 18.

Cartoonist Batton Lash has been chronicling the cases of attorneys Alanna Wolff and Jeff Byrd, Counselors of the Macabre, since 1979, first as a weekly newspaper strip, then as comic books and graphic novels, and for the last four years online as well as in print.

The just completed webcomic storyline, “Rights of the Werewolf,” is the longest story Batton has ever done featuring his characters, taking over a year to unfold. In that saga, an accidental werewolf gets caught up in politics and the media, as “shapeshifter rights” activists take the law into their own hands.

“I love telling werewolf stories,” says Batton, “but readers tell me I don’t do enough of them. So here are two werewolf stories back to back, including one about a ‘ware-wolf.’”

The online version of Supernatural Law is part of webcomicsnation.com, where it has consistently been in the top 20 strips viewed there over the past four years. It also won the Eagle Award for favorite webcomic in 2005.

More information on Batton (who is also the writer of Archie: Freshman Year and of Bongo’s Radioactive Man comics) and Supernatural Law can be found at www.exhibitapress.com.

The Scariest Kid on Earth

The Alternative Press Expo, or APE, is coming up this weekend at The Concourse in San Francisco. The show runs from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. Saturday and 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Sunday. Special guests include Jamaica Dyer, Phoebe Gloeckner, Dean Haspiel, Batton Lash, Lark Pien, Dash Shaw and Jeff Smith. I’ll be there covering the show, while Matt Maxwell will have a table to sell copies of Strangeways.

And over the next couple days, I’ll be posting what various companies and creators have planned for the show. If you’d like to be included, drop me the details on where you’ll be, what you’ll be selling and all that good stuff.

Exhibit A Press | Jackie Estrada dropped us a note about what Exhibit A Press (table 312) will have at the show, where special guest Batton Lash will be celebrating 30 years of Wolff & Byrd, Counselors of the Macabre.

“He’ll be signing the limited-edition Supernatural Law Tales from the Vault Anniversary Special as well as comics and trades,” she writes. “We’ll also have Batton’s ‘monster cameos,’ one-of-a-kind hand-painted miniatures of everyone’s favorite monsters. Plus: new Graphitti Designs Supernatural Law T-shirt!”

More info at www.exhibitapress.com/pages/index.php

SLG Publishing | Jennifer de Guzman sent over an update on SLG’s plans for the show. “Jamaica Dyer will be a special guest, so we will have plenty of copies of her new book Weird Fishes,” she writes. “Jamaica will also be on the panel Personal Stories on Saturday at 5 p.m. with Dean Haspiel, Phoebe Glockner, and Dash Shaw. I’ll be moderating her spotlight panel on Sunday at 12 p.m.”

Things Undone

NBM | Ted Rall and Shane White will be at APE; Rall will have a few copies of The Year of Loving Dangerously, while White will sign copies of the recent release Things Undone (which is sitting on my dresser in my “to read” pile; I should read it before this weekend).

Top Shelf | Brett Warnock posts on his blog that Nate Powell, Grant Reynolds and Jeremy Tinder will be at their booth, along with himself and Leigh Walton. And as always, he’ll be at the Isotope party Saturday night.

Creators | Scott Morse will be on hand doing commissions and selling the last few remaining copies he has of The Ancient Book of Sex and Science.

Manga | Deb Aoki rounds up what various manga publishers are doing at the show.

Exhibit A Press, which publishes the Supernatural Law comics by Batton Lash, has several new items available at Comic-Con this year, including a 15th anniversary special (above) and a new trade paperback. Details can be found in the press release after the jump …

*****

Batton Lash and Exhibit A Press (booth 1909) have lots going on at Comic-Con International for 2009:

New book: Tales from the Vault: An Anniversary Special
This is the 15th anniversary of Exhibit A Press (publishers of Supernatural Law comic books and trade paperbacks) and the 30th anniversary of Batton’s characters Wolff & Byrd, Counselors of the Macabre; this book has samples of material from all incarnations: the original weekly newspaper strip that appeared in The National Law Journal, the one-page magazine stories, the comic book stories, and the webcomic–including a previously unpublished five-page comic book story featuring Wolff & Byrd’s intrepid secretary, Mavis. It’s 64 pages for a mere $7.95.

New trade paperback: The Soddyssey
This is the “missing” volume (#2) in the Supernatural Law trade paperback series–now available at Comic-Con for the first time!

New T-shirt:
This shirt, with an image inspired by monster movie posters of the 1930s, was produced by Graphitti Designs. it’s a must-have item, available in all sizes!

New Archie collection: Archie Freshman Year
The miniseries Batton wrote has been collected into a trade paperback. It will be available at the Exhibit A booth, including during a special signing at 1:00 on Saturday, when the artist (Bill Galvan) and Archie Comics reps will be on hand.

New Radioactive Man: The Best Radioactive Man Event Ever!
What happens when a comic book company builds a big event around its main superhero? Find out from Bongo’s big summer crossover event, running in issues of Simpsons Comics, Bart Simpson, and Simpsons Super Spectacular. This big event was written by Batton, with art by Tone Rodriguez and Andrew Pepoy and covers by Bill Morrision, all of whom will be at the booth for special signings. Bongo will also be selling a Comic-Con-only trade paperback collecting these three landmark issues!

Plus: Batton will be drawing at the Cartoon Art Museum Saturday morning at 11:00 and appearing on several panels: He’s interviewing Lew Sayre Schwartz on Thursday at 5:00, talking with Leonard Starr Saturday at 4:00, and roasting Lloyd Kaufman Saturday at 6:30.